LEDBURY and Leominster progressed through the semi-finals of the Hereford Times Cup which were held at St Martin's Bowling Club.

The first semi-final was between Ledbury and local rivals Eastnor.

After 10 ends, Ledbury held a one-shot advantage with the rink of Martin Griffiths leading 14-8 and Brian Read leading 10-8 but this was balanced by Phil Middleton leading for Eastnor 14-7 over Mike Ricketts.

After 13 ends, Middleton had increased his rink’s lead to 21-7 but suddenly Ricketts' rink went up a gear to start pulling back shots, winning seven of the remaining eight ends, including a five on the 15th end.

In the end, Ricketts finished 24-23 which was a fine recovery.

The rink of Griffiths maintained their form to come out 27-17 winners.

In the other match Ivan Beasley’s rink pulled back against Read but still went down 20-17, this gave an overall win to Ledbury 71-56.

The other semi was between Leominster and Ross-on-Wye which produced an interesting competition.

Leominster started the stronger by leading 27-19 on 10 ends. After 15 ends, Leominster were still in control by leading 41-34 and looking like they would hold Ross to the finish.

Rob Gwilliam’s rink suddenly picked up a six followed by a three to make the run in a close affair, Ross winning 20-16.

An in-form Mark Suter led his rink to a good win over Barry Payne of Ross by winning 25-12.

Tightest game of the day was between John Harris (Leominster) and Phil Bureau (Ross) with the Ross rink holding on to win 17-15.

Leominster held their nerve to come out 56-49 winners.

The final will be held at Weobley BC on Saturday, starting at 10am.

Result Cards J Meredith, D Holmes, M White, B Read (Ledbury) 20, E Brookes,T Churchill, C Billingham, I Beasley (Eastnor) 16.

D Chewter, C Bleise, N Douse, M Griffiths (Ledbury) 27, R Bennett, G Harris, B Edmunds, G Merredy (Eastnor) 17.

M Holmes, R Gill, B Loveridge, M Ricketts (Ledbury) 24, G Williams, P Morris, T Burford, P Middleton (Eastnor) 23.

Ledbury 71 Eastnor 56 P Johnson, R Bradley, T Collier, R Jones (Leominster) 16, D Palmer, F Garrett, A Page, R Gwilliam (Ross) 20.

J Powell, G Lloyd, B Cade, M Suter (Leominster) 25, G Marshall, D Watkins, R Cooke, B Payne (Ross) 12.

J Jones, G Pitt, R Perry, J Harris (Leominster) 15, M Baugh, C Barnes, L Williams, P Bureau (Ross) 17.

Leominster 56 Ross-On-Wye 49